1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an expansion device of a computer peripheral interface card, and more particularly, to a removable interface card expansion module applied to computer devices.
2. Related Art
Currently, in order to facilitate a user to use peripheral devices, interface card slots of many different interfaces are arranged in a mainboard of a computer system for the insertion of interface cards of various computer peripheral input/output devices. Data transmission interfaces of the peripheral devices are diversified, for example, accelerated graphics port (AGP), peripheral component interconnect (PCI), or industry standard architecture (ISA). The interface cards inserted in the interface card slots can enhance the overall function of the computer and support specific peripheral devices, so as to meet different requirements on the computer system of the user.
In a common computer mainframe, various interface cards are perpendicular to the computer mainboard when inserted in various interface card slots of the mainboard, so the computer case is limited by the height of the interface cards, and thus cannot be made smaller or thinner. In addition, in another slot adapting manner, an adapter circuit board is perpendicularly disposed on the mainboard, expansion slots are arranged at one side edge of the adapter circuit board, and then interface cards are inserted in the expansion slots of the adapter circuit board. Thus, the interface cards can be mounted in parallel to the mainboard, and telecommunication can be established between the interface cards and the mainboard via the adapter circuit board, such that the computer case can be made thinner appropriately, and more interface cards are accommodated without the waste of space. However, the above manner still has certain disadvantages. If a plurality of interface cards is inserted in the adapter circuit board, as the interface cards stack on the adapter circuit board, and the space in the case is small, when a user needs to replace an interface card next to the mainboard, other interface cards have to be taken out to prevent unexpected damages to the nearby electronic elements before pulling out the innermost interface card, which is time-consuming and is quite inconvenient.
In view of the above, for example, an expansion module as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,373,691 is available at present, in which an adapter circuit board is fixed to an expansion module, and interface cards can be inserted in the adapter circuit board, so as to be fixed to the expansion module. The adapter circuit board has metal pins, and can be inserted into interface card slots of a mainboard, such that the interface cards can be electrically connected to the mainboard via the adapter circuit board, or can be fixed in a case via the expansion module. According to the above manner of adopting an expansion module, any one of the interface cards can be freely inserted in or pulled out without affecting other interface cards, and the entire expansion module is taken out of the case when inserting or pulling out the interface cards, thus being much more convenient in general.
Considering the disclosure of the above patent comprehensively, the connection between the interface cards and the mainboard is that the interface cards are directly inserted in the interface card slots of the mainboard with the metal pins, so as to electrically connect the interface cards to the mainboard. However, in the above connection manner, it is limited that the interface cards can only be directly mounted on, inserted into, or pulled out of the mainboard. As the mainboard is fixed in the computer case, when the user needs to replace the interface cards, the cover plate of the computer case has to be removed before carrying out the replacement, and again has to be mounted back and secured to the computer mainframe after the installation or replacement process. Moreover, the computer case is quite difficult to dismantle and secure as the computer case often does not match screws of the case, such that it is complicated and time-consuming to dismantle or install the interface cards.